Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay: Historical and political background

Abstract

Latin America has often been treated as a rather homogeneous entity without considering the vast diversity in its countries and subregions (Gardini, 2012), including the huge gap between rich and poor areas, which “[. . . ] has long been – and arguably still remains – Latin America’s Achilles’ heel.” Shifter (2013, p. 1). Nevertheless, Latin America, and especially the three countries on which this study focuses – Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay – share characteristics in their historical and political backgrounds as well as their global positioning, and developments in one country often relate to experiences from another one. This is reflected in a number of academic contributions to the democratic development in Latin America (amongst others, Smith, 2012; Arceneaux, 2016; Nohlen & Sangmeister, 2004; Agüero & Stark, 1998; Domínguez & Shifter, 2013; Gwynne & Kay, 2004a).